To honor Angel Chuck Billy’s gotcha day anniversary, we set off on a grand adventure. One that he meticulously planned and researched, but was unable to fulfill, because he was suddenly called off to conduct missions at Rainbow Bridge. We headed to the mountains to learn more about the Hills – specifically Betty and Barney Hill, and their dog, Delsey! Angel Chuck Billy, the renowned Dog Ufologist, was fascinated by this UFO event, but not just the humans’ side of the tale. He wanted to know more about what happened to Delsey the dog! Therefore on Angel Chuck Billy’s gotcha anniversary, I was going to see what more I could learn by traveling to Lincoln, New Hampshire to the area where the UFO encounter took place.
In September 1961 Betty and Barney Hill, along with their dog, Delsey, were heading home to Portsmouth, New Hampshire after spending time in Montreal, Canada. It was late, and they were tired. However, after getting lost trying to find a dog friendly hotel on the outskirts of Montreal, they decided to drive straight home. Little did they expect that their journey would be interrupted by a UFO. While driving through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Betty and Barney noticed strange lights in the sky. Around that same time, their dog started squirming. Like any dog owner, they assumed she had to go to the bathroom. So they searched for a safe place to pull over and let her out. The Hills were concerned by the odd lights they saw in the sky, but at this point were focused on relieving the dog, who Barney recalled was hiding under the car’s seat. It was sometime after this that Betty and Barney were confronted by the strange creatures piloting the craft, and two hours of their trip went mysteriously missing. After reporting what they saw to the government, the Hills remained quiet about that fateful night. That is until a few years later in 1965, while under hypnosis, the detailed events of what happened that night were revealed, and eventually leaked to the media. Making Betty and Barney Hill the first widely reported UFO abduction in the United States.
The goal of our mission though was not to recount the events of that night. Instead we wanted to view the area where it took place 65 years ago. If you’d like to learn more, Angel Chuck Billy’s notes recommended Interrupted Journey, by John G. Fuller (1966), and Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience, coauthored by Betty Hill’s niece, Kathleen Marden, and the renowned ufologist, Stanton T. Friedman (2007). Or if you’d like to learn more about the NH state historic marker we visited, and how it had to be meticulously footnoted before approval, go to the Huffpost article (July 25, 2011).
As we approached the location of the roadside marker, I was struck by the pyramid shape of the mountains. According to the Ancient Astronaut Theorists on Ancient Aliens, pyramids were built by extraterrestrials for the purpose of some sort of advanced technology. Could this be a mere coincidence that the mountains near where this event occurred looked like pyramids? This dog ufologist apprentice says, “NO!”
In fact, the historic marker is located at the Indian Head Resort, opposite the roadside attraction of the Indian Head Rock Profile. A classic example of the “look over here, not there!” method of distraction. While tourists gazed at the rock formation said to resemble the profile of a Native American, no one would be looking in the opposite direction of the pyramids!
But they couldn’t fool me! I headed straight to the sign to scope out the lay of the land. Ok, so I got super excited and barked, “Chuck Billy, we made it!” But I quickly reminded myself to keep my composure for what was one of our biggest investigations!
It was time to get down to work, getting my bearings, while Mom read from Angel Chuck Billy’s research notes about the event. On that night, the Hills stopped their car just south of the Indian Head Resort, which was there at the time of the event. Hence the location of the sign approximately a mile from where they had their encounter. However, please note that this was a remote stretch of US Route 3 when the Hills passed through. Many of the businesses and hotels seen on our trip were not there in 1961, and it was the middle of the night, hence the lack of additional eyewitnesses. And definitely no cell phones to take out and start recording in 1961. Not that extraterrestrials then or now are known for posing for pictures. We, on the other paw, marked our visit with me posing for a lot of photos.
Suddenly my sensitive nose detected something in the wind headed our way. A very pungent smell, that made me turn to see who could be approaching. I was hoping it was my BIF – Best Invisible Friend – Bigfoot, who is rumored to be stinky and also spotted on occasion in nearby White Mountain National Forest. Instead it turned out to be a truck towing portable potties. Could that be another distraction technique to get me off the scent of the trail? Were we getting too close to the truth on what happened to Delsey?
It was time to expand our search radius. As we drove away, I couldn’t help but feel like the mountains were watching my every move.
Following Angel Chuck Billy’s itinerary, we drove to the White Mountain National Forest along the Kancamagus Scenic Byway, and pulled into the parking lot for the Lincoln Woods Trailhead. Alright, true confessions, we were not prepared for this part of the adventure. The original plan was to do this trip in September to explore the area under the weather conditions that the Hills experienced. Instead we were there in March with snow covered ground, icy terrain, and temperatures hovering around 21ºF/ -6ºC. So we instantly crossed that hike off our itinerary. But the stop was not wasted! I noticed a clue. A big part of Betty and Barney’s story is the missing time they experienced that night. I couldn’t help but notice on this trail conditions sign, that they mislabeled the date as March 07, instead of March 27. Could this be evidence of missing time? Could the park ranger who made this sign have gone on a UFO ride and not realize it? All the other information was correct, so why was the date wrong?
We drove on to a more scenic overlook at the Hancock Trailhead. Where once again I was reminded of the pyramid shape of the mountains. According to Ancient Aliens, the extraterrestrials who made the pyramids hid them in plain sight around the world. Is this another example? Has no one else noticed the pointy shape of the mountains? Have I stumbled upon a new clue for ufology!
We paused here for a snack break, which by the way, Angel Chuck Billy had included in his original itinerary. He really did think of everything! Here I collected my thoughts. Was I getting distracted by my pyramid theory? Was I missing bigger clues?
As I breathed in the fragrant scent of pine trees, I found myself getting distracted by thoughts of Christmas. Apparently Angel Chuck Billy factored that in too, because there was a sign on the kiosk reminding me not to cut down any Christmas trees.
Alright, point taken. Acknowledging that we weren’t equipped to explore further, and the majority of the parking lots were not plowed, we headed home. But with a promise to return to learn more about what happened to Betty and Barney Hill and their dog Delsey!
Oh and one other clue worth mentioning that we were on the right track. Our GPS coordinates inexplicably got changed! When we set off, Dad programmed in a specific route. However, as we drove Mom started commenting that the area looked familiar. Dad said it couldn’t be, he picked a scenic way we had never traveled before. But then Mom spotted the sign for the town where Angel Chuck Billy was born! We all laughed at the coincidence. But next thing we knew, we were driving past the actual street where Angel Chuck Billy had set off from the whelping box 14 years earlier on that very date, for his life of grand adventures with us! Surely this wasn’t a coincidence. This was a sign from Angel Chuck Billy, the renowned Dog Ufologist, that he was with us on this journey despite his original plan being interrupted!
